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The Beginners Guide to IVR - Interactive Voice Response

The term IVR is short for Interactive Voice1. Integrated Voice Response systems can be
Response, whichis a telephony technology thatextremelybeneficial to companies by cutting
allows interaction betweencallers and a phonedown on live callhandling time, thus saving
system to acquire or enter informationinto amoney and enabling staff to befree to
database. More and more companies areconcentrate  on  other  business  areas.
turning to IVRto help reduce the cost of
common sales, service,collections, inquiry2. IVR systems can benefit callers by either
and  support  calls to and from theircompany.allowingaccess to personalised information
or, directing them tothe right department or,
Interactive Voice Response or IVR is one ofby a combination of multipleinput types and
the most commontelephone functions in useselections via menu choices
across the business community andis capableinvolvingtelephone keypad input and speech
of bringing remarkable benefits to yourrecognition.
company.
3. IVR systems allow callers to retrieve or
IVR systems allow 24 hour access to a companyaccessinformation quickly with or without
from itscustomers via its phone system. Inadditional  humanassistance.
today's busy modernworld, most callers expect
on first contact with a company,to be handled4. Integrated Voice Response systems allow
via some kind of Auto Attendant orcompanies toeasily expand their hours of
Interactivebusiness, without the needfor live operators
to be on hand. This allows callers tocall at
Voice Response (IVR) system. This method oftheir convenience and still be able to carry
call handling isgenerally accepted as long asouta  multitude  of  tasks  automatically.
the caller is given ampleopportunity to opt
out of the IVR system and be able tospeak to5. Call queuing times to departments within a
a  live  agent.companycan be drastically reduced. With IVR
systems, calls canbe transferred to
IVR systems offer a cost effective and moneyappropriate departments through themenu
saving way ofhandling customer calls twentyselection  process.
four hours a day, seven daysa week. The
handling of routine phone requests6. IVR systems allow company representatives
forinformation can consume a substantialtoexperience lower call volumes thorough the
amount of companyresources and ultimatelyautomation ofrepetitive tasks. This allows
money. Interactive Voice Responsesystems,these representatives tomanage their calls
tailored to a company's requirements canmore efficiently and lets them toconcentrate
providemuch the same information as a liveon  more  important  issues.
operator at a fractionof the cost both
financially and resourcefully. To putthings7. Through the implementation of a good
in their most simple form IVR systems letIntegrated
callersinteract with your company via its
telephone  system.Voice Response System, companies may actually
be able toexpand their call capacity and
IVR systems hugely reduce customer callrespond to larger callvolumes through the
handling costs, andcan be introduced intocorrect management and routing of allinbound
your company environment in a numberof ways.calls, reducing the handling cost per call
The most basic IVR systems simply allow youratio.
torecord a message that is played when a
customer presses theappropriate number on the8. For companies who accept payments via the
phone  keypad.  The  more  advancedtelephone
Interactive Voice Response systems allowIVR systems can fully automate this task,
callers to interactwith a company on a muchallowing themto process transactions anytime
greater scale. For example youcould set up anof  the  day,  any  day  ofthe  week.
IVR to retrieve specific account
informationthat is relayed to the caller9. For when call volumes are high, IVR
through the implementation oftext-to-speechsystems allowcompanies to highlight new
recognition technology. This technologyallowsproducts, updates or productinformation etc
IVR systems to read specific information fromwhile  a  caller  is  on  hold.
adatabase and then relate that information
back  to  thecustomer  in  spoken  format.10.Companies are able to monitor call
progress andtransactions through the use of
Typical IVR - Interactive Voice Responsedaily  call  activity  reports.
System  Applications
Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) IVR or
The potential applications of IVR systems areHosted  IVR  The
virtuallyendless. IVR systems can be used to
automate a wide range ofservices and requestsChoice  Is  Yours
for information. By combining theinput of a
caller with tailor made scripts, IVRCPE - This is equipment that is purchased or
systemsallow callers to call into a companyleased by acustomer and is then located,
or IVR hosting companyusing a touch-tonehosted and maintained at thecustomers site.
telephone, and then to interact withFor most companies this is an expensive wayof
thesystem in real time. Below is a list ofharnessing the power a good IVR system can
example  IVRapplications:bring to anybusiness due to the initial cost
of the hardware andinstallation work that
1.  Automated  account  payment  systemswould be required. For thosecompanies that
have the necessary funding for CPE there
2.  Customer  account  informationareof course benefits as well as drawbacks.
CPE allows you totake full control of your
3 Banking service for account balanceIVR system and will also allow forfuture
transferinformationcompany expansion, though many hosted IVR
solutionsdo allow for this also. The main
4 Customer  market  surveysdrawback to CPE IVRsystems is that you would
need continuing technical supportand
5 Emergency  notificationsmaintenance either from your own internal
staff oroutsourced to the IVR system
6 Virtual  receptionistsprovider.
7 Call  centre  automationIVR Hosting - If a customer prefers not to
host an IVRsystem on their premises, is
8 Order  status  and  trackingrestricted  by  location,  lacks
9 Package  trackingIT support or quite simply cannot withstand
the initialfinancial outlay required for
10  Virtual  PBX'soutright purchase then aremote IVR hosting
solution that can be tailored to acompany's
11  Voicemail  servicesrequirements could be the answer. This option
isparticularly attractive for small to medium
12  Voice  instant  messagingsized businesseswho wish to take advantage of
a  fully  featured  Interactive
13  Bill  reminder
Voice Response system, with a vastly reduced
14  Bill  collectioninitial capitaloutlay, as well as eradicating
the need for system ITmaintenance, and
15  Telesalessupport.
16  Virtual  agentsWhichever form of IVR system you decide to
implement, it isbetter to ask the advice of
17  Auto  attendantsexperts before you go ahead andpurchase any
hardware or sign any form of lease agreement.
18  Call  routing
A good IVR systems provider or IVR hosting
19  Call  recording  solutionscompany will takethe time to sit down with
you and discuss your requirementsin detail
20  Plus  many,  many  morebefore helping you make a decision on what
type  ofsystem  you  should  opt  for.
Benefits  of  IVR  Systems
Thanks for reading.



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